PRACTICAL EXAMINER PROGRAM

NCCCO-accredited Practical Examiners are CCO-certified personnel who have been trained and authorized by NCCCO to administer the practical examinations for CCO certification programs. NCCCO Practical Examiners are recognized as professionals in their field and may offer their services for hire. Employers with NCCCO-accredited Practical Examiners on staff appreciate the convenience of being able to schedule in-house tests to accommodate changing schedules caused by weather, workloads, and other factors.

Accreditation Requirements

Accredited Practical Examiners are authorized to offer the CCO Practical Exam at approved NCCCO Practical Test Sites. Scheduling of such tests is done through the Test Site Coordinator responsible for each site.

Practical Examiner accreditation is good for five years. Once accredited, you will receive a Practical Examiner packet with the documentation necessary to conduct CCO Practical Exams. After the completion of a clean audit, you will also receive an official NCCCO accreditation card listing the programs for which you are accredited.

To be an NCCCO-accredited Practical Examiner, you must:

Be able to document some crane operating experience

Be certified by NCCCO in the program you are seeking accreditation for prior to attending a Practical Examiner Accreditation Workshop

Attend an NCCCO Practical Examiner Accreditation Workshop, during which your performance as an Examiner will be observed and evaluated

Pass the Practical Exam(s) in the presence of an NCCCO Auditor for the crane type(s) you are seeking accreditation (even if currently certified)

Pass a Practical Examiner Accreditation Written Examination

Pass a Practical Examination audit

Have a direct email address to receive email notifications from NCCCO (this may not be a shared address)

If you fail the practical test at a Practical Examiner Accreditation Workshop, within 30 days you must pass a practical test in that category administered by an NCCCO Auditor selected by NCCCO. If you fail the practical test again, your certification in that category will be revoked. To be certified in that category again, you must pass the appropriate written and practical tests. Prior to taking the practical test(s), you must notify NCCCO so that NCCCO can audit the test site and Practical Examiner.

Practical Examiners receive regular updates on the NCCCO Practical Examination Program via emailed Information Bulletins. These updates are also posted in a password-protected area on NCCCO’s website for Practical Examiners only. We encourage you to share your experiences as a Practical Examiner with NCCCO so that others may benefit.

Accredited NCCCO Practical Examiners are not permitted to participate as Practical Examiners in any non-CCO crane-related personnel certification programs.

Practical Examiners who have been assigned a username and password for the login section of the NCCCO website can recover their password via a link on the login screen. If the email address entered to retrieve the password is not the same as the one in the database the password recovery link will not work. Those who have not yet been assigned a password or provide the incorrect email should email Erin Jones (ejones@nccco.org) to receive or recover their password.

If, at any time, you have questions about any aspect of the NCCCO Practical Examination Program, contact the NCCCO Western Regional Office at 801-363-2693 or via email at ejones@nccco.org.

PROBATIONARY EXAMINERS

A probationary Examiner is defined as:

An individual who does not hold accreditation in any other CCO program

An individual who has allowed his/her accreditation to expire

A Practical Examiner who has not administered an exam within a 24-month period

A Practical Examiner who has been required to re-attend a full workshop

At the completion of the Practical Examiner Accreditation Workshop, you will receive a Certificate of Attendance. This verifies that you have attended and participated in an official NCCCO Practical Examiner Accreditation Program Workshop. Within three weeks you will receive a notification letter from NCCCO informing you of your probationary Examiner accreditation status.

Probationary Examiners are required to be monitored and/or audited at the first Practical Exam that they administer; in other words, following accreditation they may not test until an NCCCO Auditor is present to audit their performance. This must be completed within 12 months of attending the accreditation workshop. Probationary Examiners then begin a 12-month probationary period after the completion of a clean audit. If a clean audit is not obtained, a second audit is required and a fee of $1,000 charged.

ONLINE NOTIFICATION OF INTENT TO TEST

Probationary Examiners are required to notify the NCCCO Western Regional Office of their intention to test. This notification must be sent via the NCCCO website (www.nccco.org/login) not less two business days (not including weekends or holidays) prior to testing. Once a site has provided test notification to NCCCO, this will be considered intent to test and the site may be audited even if no testing occurs. They must also notify NCCCO if testing plans change.

Other criteria for determining which Examiners must use the online notification system include:

Practical Examiners at new Practical Exam sites

Exceptionally high or low pass rates

Practical Examiners chosen via a revolving random selection

Practical Examiners who NCCCO has reason to believe have intentionally sought to avoid a Practical Exam Audit

For the final three criteria listed, NCCCO will indicate that you meet one or more of the specified criteria and when you will be required to begin using the online notification system.

RE-ACCREDITATION

Prior to the end of your five-year accreditation period you will be notified of your need to re-accredit. To re-accredit, you must meet the requirements for a CCO-certified crane operator and:

Attend a one-day operator Practical Examiner Accreditation Refresher Workshop (if you have more than one operator accreditation, you may attend just one refresher to cover all operator accreditations)

or

Attend a full operator workshop to earn accreditation in an area you are not yet accredited

Practical Examiners accredited in more than one operator program have only one accreditation period. Practical Examiners adding an operator accreditation prior to 12 months before their expiration date will have that workshop count as a refresher for all previously held operator accreditations and will reset their five-year operator accreditation period for all operator accreditations. Practical Examiners adding a new operator accreditation within the last 12 months of their expiration date, however, will have that workshop count as their refresher for all previously held operator accreditations, and their five-year cycle will remain the same.

For example, mobile crane operator Practical Examiners who subsequently add the tower crane operator accreditation will have their accreditation period reset and will start a new five-year accreditation cycle. If they add the new accreditation during the 12 months prior to the end of their mobile crane operator accreditation period, however, they will have that workshop count as a refresher for their initial accreditation(s), and this will extend their five-year operator accreditation period for all operator accreditations.

Refresher Workshops are held at the beginning of each regularly scheduled Practical Examiner Accreditation Workshop.

PROVISIONAL ACCREDITATION

Practical Examiner applicants who do not pass the PEAP Written and/or Practical Exam during their workshop must be subsequently retested by an NCCCO Auditor. They receive full accreditation only in the categories for which they hold certification and have successfully passed the PEAP Written Exam and Practical Exam with an NCCCO Auditor present.

Accredited Practical Examiners may add a category by passing the Practical Exam for that crane type at an NCCCO Test Site with an NCCCO Auditor present.

MAINTAINING ACCREDITATION

Accredited Practical Examiners must administer at least one Practical Exam in every 12-month period to maintain accreditation. Practical Examiners accredited in mobile, tower, overhead, or articulating cranes and/or digger derricks may administer a mobile, tower, overhead, or articulating crane or digger derrick operator Practical Exam to meet this requirement.

If you are unable to conduct an exam within a 12-month period, an extension of up to 90 days may be granted, provided that you have an exam scheduled within that 90-day time period. If you are unable to schedule an exam within the extension period, you must attend a Refresher Workshop to maintain your accreditation.

For example, if you last gave an exam March 2012, you are required to test again by March 2013. If, in April 2013, you have not yet given a test, to avoid attending a Refresher Workshop you must schedule and administer an exam no later than June 2013.

If you do not administer at least one Practical Examination in a 24-month period, you must attend an entire two- or three-day (depending on program) Practical Examiner Accreditation Workshop. Examiners who must attend a full workshop will be considered probationary and are subject to the requirements of probationary Examiners.

NCCCO periodically emails Information Bulletins to all accredited Practical Examiners containing clarifications and updated policies. To remain in good standing, Practical Examiners are required to confirm via a link at the bottom of the bulletins that they have received, read, and agree to abide by the information contained therein.

HOLDING MULTIPLE ACCREDITATIONS

Given the growth of the NCCCO programs, Practical Examiners may hold accreditation in several programs. Given their similarities and differences in exam administration, accreditation programs are broken into three areas:

Each area has its own accreditation period (i.e., issue and expiration date). Within each area, adding an accreditation extends all accreditations within that area a full five years. Take, for example, a current Practical Examiner who holds Mobile, Tower, and Signalperson accreditations. If the Practical Examiner earned Mobile accreditation in January 2008 and added Tower accreditation in March 2010, both Mobile and Tower accreditations would expire in March 2015. If the Practical Examiner added Signalperson in June 2012, his/her Mobile and Tower accreditation expiration date would remain March 2015, and his/her new Signalperson expiration date would be June 2017. In summary, adding any accreditation within a specific area acts as a refresher for all existing accreditations within that area.

Similarly, each area has its own requirement regarding giving at least one exam every 12 months. For example, take a Practical Examiner who holds Mobile, Tower, and Signalperson accreditations. Giving one Mobile exam in a 12-month period would allow the Practical Examiner to maintain accreditations in Mobile and Tower, but not in Signalperson.

To help Practical Examiners track all accreditation expiration dates, all accreditations are maintained on a single Practical Examiner card, and different expiration dates are noted for each area. Every time a new accreditation is added, the Practical Examiner receives an updated card.

Practical Examiners under current suspension or investigation are not eligible to add another accreditation. Practical Examiners who have been suspended in one program will have their accreditation(s) suspended in all programs for which they are accredited.

MAINTAINING CERTIFIED OPERATOR STATUS

For your accreditation as an NCCCO Practical Examiner to remain in good standing, you must also continue to meet all the requirements of a CCO–certified crane operator, including medical requirements. Therefore, in addition to the Practical Examination, you must maintain a passing status on the Written Examinations relating to the crane types in which you are accredited as a Practical Examiner.

If your CCO crane operator certification expires before your accreditation period as a Practical Examiner does, you must certify again as an operator for your Practical Examiner accreditation to remain valid. If you fail your recertification exams and/or your certified-operator status lapses for any other reason, your Practical Examiner accreditation status will be automatically suspended in those categories and you will not be allowed to administer any Practical Examinations in the respective category(s) until your certification has been reinstated.

PRACTICAL EXAMINERS DIRECTORY

All fully accredited Practical Examiners are eligible for inclusion in this directory at no charge. Please note, however, that your listing is not automatic. You need to confirm that you wish to be included and that the contact information on file for you is current.

If you wish to be included in the Directory, please provide the information requested on the appropriate form in this handbook and submit it to NCCCO.

MENTOR PROGRAM

Practical Test Sites testing for the first time are encouraged to request a Mentor from NCCCO. Requirements for a Mentor are that he/she:

Is an NCCCO–accredited Practical Examiner

Has laid out at least one NCCCO Practical Test Site

Has administered at least one NCCCO Practical Exam

Has been approved as a Mentor by the Practical Exam Management Committee

While Mentors receive no compensation from NCCCO, Test Sites may negotiate fees with Mentors for Test Site set up and/or Practical Exam guidance services.

Any Practical Examiner interested in becoming a Mentor should contact NCCCO.

AUDIT PROGRAM

NCCCO conducts audits of Practical Test Sites and Practical Examiners in accordance with the accreditation requirements of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

Practical Test Sites and Practical Examiners are selected for audits on the basis of a variety of criteria, including random selection, in response to issues reported by candidates, unusually high or low pass rates, new Test Sites, or probationary Examiners.

Once a site has been selected for audit, the Test Site Coordinator or company representative from the site may be notified by letter from NCCCO prior to the scheduled audit day. In addition, the Auditor will contact the Test Site Coordinator or company representative to verify the testing date and the site address. Unannounced audits may also be conducted.

It is a condition of Practical Examiner accreditation and Test Site status that all test site personnel, including the Test Site Coordinator, Practical Examiner, and Proctor(s), cooperate fully with the NCCCO Auditor during the audit process.

Practical Examiners who have been audited and have been notified that an additional audit is required will be responsible for the expenses incurred by NCCCO for the additional audit. Any Practical Exams conducted by the Examiner will not be scored until NCCCO has been reimbursed for the incurred expenses.

PROGRAM SANCTIONS

In the event that an Examiner is sanctioned, he/she will be responsible for any expenses incurred by NCCCO in the retesting of candidates whose scores have been invalidated due to irregularities or uncertainties caused by the sanctioned Practical Examiner. Sanctioned Practical Examiners must immediately return all confidential exam materials to NCCCO.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS

If you change your address, you must notify NCCCO as soon as possible. Failure to do so may cause you to miss important updates that could affect your accreditation.

Changes of address or other contact information should be made directly to your Profile in the Practical Examiner area of the NCCCO website. To update your Profile, log in to nccco.org/login and then click on “Profile” in the upper right corner to view and edit your information.

INTER-RATER RELIABILITY POLICY

Inter-rater reliability exams are used for statistical reporting purposes and are used to measure the reliability between examiners. Where two examiners are scoring one candidate for inter-rater reliability (IRR) purposes, the second examiner can serve as proctor (if required). Inter-rater reliability exams conducted by the second Practical Examiner will count toward the one exam administration per year accreditation requirement. The second exam (IRR exam) will not be considered for scoring unless information is missing on the primary score sheet. Practical Examiners will mark the top of the score sheet with an IRR designation so the supplementary exam can be properly recorded. Additional information (e.g., candidate applications, photos, and fees) should not be submitted for the second score sheet.